Healthy working lunch

Thanks to my friend Mike for this quick healthy lunch idea !!

As summer approaches soon and not all of us (*hint hint) can get ourselves to the gym or burn those calories every day we can make these teeny weeny changes in our diet to stay healthy and detox. This is now one of my quick working lunch recipes.


Ingredients 


1 Bowl cooked pasta (Approx 100gms)
2 tbsp Olive oil
1 small cucumber diced in cubes
50gms Cherry tomatoes  halved
1 celery stick
Handful Rocket salad
Small can of Sweet corn
2 tsp Mixed dried herbs
Salt and Pepper as per taste
Feta cheese (Optional)


Mix all of the ingredients together and Voilà your lunch !

Happy Cooking !!

Apple Crumble

Its inevitable... to be gripped,enamoured, amazed and influenced by the culture and cuisine of the place you live around. Its a constant sense of awe in a foreign land where, the joy is endless especially for someone who loves history, art, theatre, magic and fairy tales England is sure the place to be. For a die hard Harry Potter, Hugh Laurie, King Arthur, Shakespeare,Tim Roth, lager fan and a foodie this is bliss. My recipe for the post is the traditional super easy and warm yummy Apple crumble, one of the Britains favourite.

Serves 6

Ingredients

Fruit mixture:
6 cups apples, peeled, cored and cut into 1/2-inch (1-cm) chunks - (I used 4 bramley apples)
1 cup fresh cranberries, halved (Optional)
1 cup granulated sugar
3 tbsp corn starch

Crumble topping:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup Muscovado dark sugar / Brown Sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup frozen butter & a bit extra for greasing

Recipe 

Preheat oven to 190 degrees C. Grease an 8- or 9-inch (20- or 23-cm) square baking dish.
First, prepare the fruit mixture. In a bowl, toss together apples and fresh cranberries. Add sugar and corn starch and toss to mix everything well. Transfer to prepared baking dish.
Next, make the crumble topping. In another large bowl (or in a food processor), combine the flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon.
Cut butter into small bits and add to the mixture until it has a slightly sticky crumbly texture resembling bread crumbs. Sprinkle over the apple cranberry mixture in the baking dish.
Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until the fruit juices are bubbling and the topping is browned and crisp.
Serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream.

Happy Cooking !!

Maa Ki Dal

One of my favourite dal, a must have Indian recipe and a favourite dal to go with rice or a hot naan.  This is a perfect winter warmer and a family favourite, what makes it so special is the ease with which you can make it and you can never go wrong with it. The only key for this recipe is to 'let it simmer', it does take a while to cook and to get to the desired texture but its so worth the wait.

My recipe for the dal has a bit of variation as compared to the traditional dal recipes and it sure helps the dal to give its creamy and rich flavour.


Serves 6

Ingredients

* Black Urad Dal (whole) - 1 and 1/2 cup
* Chana Dal - 3/4th cup
* Kidney Beans - 1/2 cup
* White Butter - 50 gms
* Tomato Puree - 1 cup
* Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 tsp
* Red Chilli Powder - 2 tsp
* Garam Masala - 1 tbsp
* Salt - As per taste
* Asofoetida - 1 pinch
* Oil - 2 tbsp
* Cream - 100ml (Optional)

Recipe

Thoroughly wash black urad dal and then soak it for 3-4 hours 
Boil the chana dal, kidney beans and urad dal or pressure cook the dal along with a pinch of asofoetida.
till the dal becomes soft. You would need to boil it for 2-2 and 1/2 hours for the dal to become a mushy mash, if you are pressure cooking 8 whistles on max heat and about 6-7 whistles on simmer.
In a cooking pot add the oil and ginger garlic paste fry it for 20 seconds and add the puree till the oil starts to leave from the sides. Add red chilli powder and garam masala to the  mix.
Pour the cooked dal in the spicy pot, add salt as per taste, butter and slow cook it till the mixture resembles the picture :). (I slow cook it for another 30-45 minutes)
Just before switching off the fire dunk in the cream and mix it randomly to tantalise your appetite further.

Happy Cooking !!

 

 

Shree Ganesh

As the adage goes its best to start anything new by eating sweets and so i thought the best recipe to start off my blog was this amazing Coconut laddu which i found on a blog  by ZestyFlavors. The laddus are absolutely easy to make and they will disappear even before you have finished rolling them.

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups grated coconut
1 cup sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup whipping cream
15-20 golden raisins(optional)
1/2 cup Almonds sliced in small bits
3/4 tsp cardamom powder

Roast 2 cups of coconut in a pan/kadhai on low to medium high heat for about 5 - 7min, until it starts giving coconuty sweet aroma & turns pale golden color. Make sure the coconut is not burnt.

Add the heavy cream and the condensed milk. Keep stirring on low heat until it starts to leave the sides and makes those tiny little bubbles.

Turn off the gas and add cardamom powder, raisins & almonds to it and mix well with a spoon.The consistency will not be dry or runny, it will be moist. 

Let the mixture cool down so you can handle it with bare hands.

Meanwhile, spread the 1/2 cup of coconut that was kept aside in a plate and divide the mixture in 12-15 portions and shape them into small round balls.Dip and roll each ball into the dry coconut thats spread on the plate. This will give the ladoo a nice flaky coconut cover. 

Let them cool completely over the counter, do not worry if the laddu appears loosely bound the cooling will set the laddu.

Serve the delicious laddus at the room temperature.

Happy Cooking !!